[travelite]

Thanks Tom and Richard,

This past 10 months have been busy with our newborn in the house. It was a real treat getting the bus out for a 4 week jaunt this summer. We loaded all six of us into it and had a blast. The kids are 10 mos, 5, 7, and 10 years and they're already planning next years trip. Thanks for the re-welcome.

Richard, I know what you mean about the bus being more controllable when the suspension is slightly loaded by wind or road crown. I attribute this to taking some of the slack out of the roll stiffness as the bus takes a set to counteract the wind or road forces. It's like driving your dad's old caddy around the racetrack. On the straights is wallowy, but once it's tossed into a turn and the outside springs compress and take a set, the steering in the turn tightens up.

It's all a tradeoff and it sounds like Newell traded a smidge more in the direction of rider comfort and in the process took a smidge from steering preciseness. I think you can make it as precise as you wish it's just a matter of giving up something. If you add an infinitely stiff sway bar on the steer axle and eliminate all body roll you'll have the precision steering of a dump truck, semi, or panel truck.

Ever see an 18 year old drive a dump truck? They all think they're driving sports cars. Ever watch one in a turn? There's absolutely zero body roll. The things handle like go carts. When they hit bumps wheels on both sides of the axle come off the ground; one wheel bumps lift both wheels. They hop, skip, and chatter thru bumpy turns. If you suspend the body in the air and push up on one end of an axle the other end goes up and equal amount - infinite roll stiffness (or close to it). The designers don't care how they ride, they just don't want them to tip over in a turn. Put a bus suspension under a dump truck and give it to an 18 year old and he'll flip it in the first turn. Bus chassis are tuned for rider comfort at the expense of steering preciseness.

My H3 with Koni shocks did a great job of limiting body roll at initial turn in. This increased steering preciseness at the expense of rider comfort. With the Koni's it was like it was always in a slight crosswind or road crown as you described. But my tastes are more in the direction of rider comfort so off they went and on came the Sachs.

Another thing about the H is where the driver sits. I'm below living floor level so the effects of body roll and yaw are felt less by me than what passengers may feel. So I'm inclined to react less to them and to overdrive the bus to a lesser extent than if I sat at living floor level.

I think you can make your steering as good as you want; it's just a matter of what you're willing to give up. Tradeoffs.